


A sad kind of smile

by LORDSLAYER69



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Pensieves (Harry Potter)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:22:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27295615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LORDSLAYER69/pseuds/LORDSLAYER69
Summary: A disgruntled fleur remembers the last vestiges of the sad smile that used to haunts her memories.
Relationships: Fleur Delacour/Harry Potter
Comments: 12
Kudos: 53





	A sad kind of smile

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AstroHawthorne](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AstroHawthorne/gifts).



> This is my first attempt at a one shot and I do hope you guys enjoy it.  
> this came from an idea from my last fic where a review suggested to use it.  
> A big thanks to Astro, juicy fruits and LTCMDR Michal Drápalík for editing this and making it better by a thousand times.  
> Also join our discord server where you can get some of the most amazing Harry/Fleur recommendation.  
> https://discord.gg/SCn8HvQq  
> On with it!

She stuttered a bit as she submerged herself in the pensieve, seeing a very familiar but distant scene playing out in front of her.

She was in the Great Hall, which was strange for multiple reasons.

Firstly, she hated Hogwarts. Always so gloomy and cold, lifeless, and without any sense of proper decorum or table manners.

Secondly, of course, the vicious Battle of Hogwarts was still horrifyingly fresh in her memory, and even now, it sent shivers down her spine.

There were casualties on both sides, but the war took too much from both Harry and Fleur.

His parents, her parents, and her sister.

Non, non, non. They were alive right now. Things had been fixed. Nothing to worry about.

Besides, they had made them pay.

Death Eaters had paid in blood, their precious pureblood for which they had fought so hard.

Recognition dawned upon her as she saw herself searching for the fish soup on the Ravenclaw table.

Mon dieu, this was the first time she had met him.

“Skrewts doing all right, Hagrid?” Harry had asked.

“Thrivin’,” Hagrid had called back happily.

She chose to ignore the comment made by the vulgar redhead and her own heartbeat quickened as she saw her memory-self approach the Gryffindor table.

Her memory-self at that moment asked in the most grating and haughty voice possible, “Excuse me, are you wanting ze bouillabaisse?”

A long sheet of silvery-blonde hair fell almost to her waist. She had large, deep blue eyes, and very white, even teeth.

Harry always told her that it was at this moment that he knew that she was no ordinary girl.

He had always insisted on making bouillabaisse after this for every anniversary.

He had learned how to make French food for her, and then he had the nerve to ask how he had been so lucky to end up with her. Little actions like that were why he could fluster her without even touching her, the affectionate bastard.

Ron went an interesting shade of purple. He stared up at her, opened his mouth to reply, but nothing came out except a faint gurgling noise.

“Yeah, have at it,” said Harry, pushing the dish towards Memory-Fleur.

“You ’ave finished wiz it?”

“Yeah,” Ron said breathlessly. “Yeah, it was excellent.”

Real Fleur stared at Ron with disgust; she had always told Harry that making friends with Ron Weasley was one of the worst things he could have done.

He always politely disagreed and told stories of Ron’s loyalty.

Loyalty should never be equated with friendship.

Especially loyalty that wavered so frequently.

She picked up the dish and carried it to her table as the image dissolved. 

* * *

The image reformed, this time in the chambers behind the Great Hall. She was leaning against the mantelpiece, slightly apart from the other two champions.

Memory-Fleur looked around when Harry walked in and threw back her sheet of long, silvery hair.

The real Fleur winced, this was not a happy memory and just ammunition for all the teasing to come from Harry later.

“What is it?” she had asked. “Do zey want us back in ze Hall?” She had thought that he had come to deliver a message, she didn’t know about the fiasco that had occurred.

Harry, of course, had the extraordinary talent to get himself into absurd situations like these without even trying.

So, he just kept quiet and didn’t explain himself.

There was the sound of scurrying feet behind him, and Ludo Bagman entered the room. He took Harry by the arm and led him forward.

She didn’t notice what the man was saying and just cringed as she saw her memory-self getting frustrated and acting very childish.

She tossed her hair, smile plastered to her face, and said, “Oh, vairy funny joke, Meester Bagman.”

“Joke?” Bagman repeated, bewildered. “No, no, not at all! Harry’s name just came out of the Goblet of Fire!”

Krum’s thick eyebrows contracted slightly. Cedric was still looking bewildered. However, her memory-self was visibly frowning

“But evidently zair ’as been a mistake,” she said contemptuously to Bagman. “’E cannot compete. ’E is too young.”

Calling Harry “too young” would of course feel hypocritical in hindsight, especially after they got 

“Well... it is amazing,” said Bagman, rubbing his chin and smiling down at Harry. “But, as you know, the restriction against underage competitors was only imposed this year as an extra safety measure. And as his name’s come out of the goblet... I mean, I don’t think there can be any ducking out at this stage... It’s in the rules, you’re magically obligated... Harry will just have to do the best he —”

What kind of idiots had they been? What kind of an idiot had she been? Here this boy was once again risking his life, and all they could think about was their own chance at fame and glory?

The door behind them opened again, and a crowd group of people came in: Professor Dumbledore, followed closely by Mr. Crouch, Karkaroff, Madame Maxime, and Professors McGonagall and Snape. Fleur heard the buzzing of the hundreds of students in the Great Hall before McGonagall closed the door.

“Madame Maxime!” said Memory-Fleur at once, striding over to her Headmistress with confidence. “Zey are saying zat zis leettle boy is to compete also!”

There it was, the icing on the cake and the ultimate ammo for Harry Bloody Potter against Fleur Delacour-Potter.

And despite herself, the real Fleur laughed, a light tickling laugh that overtook her grief and loneliness and to laugh about her own silliness.

She could actually see the anger under the initial shock on Harry’s face.

It made her laugh even more.

* * *

The image dissolved once again as the scene changed.

This time it was the Hogwarts gardens, pale moonlight shining through the rose bushes as she attempted to kiss Roger Davies.

The key word was attempted. Why?

Because she was the one attempting to kiss him, he was just trying to eat her face.

What. An. Idiot.

It was rather awkward, as she watched her memory self attempt to have a good time with this idiot.

First, he had behaved like a dog throughout the entire dinner and now he couldn’t even kiss her properly.

Well, if she was honest to herself, this only happened because she wanted to go out with the hottest guy in Hogwarts and win the bet against Annelise.

It turned out to be one of the worst decisions of her entire life.

In the seat to the right of them was of course Hagrid trying to win Maxime’s heart by what she could only suppose was opening up his heart to her.

If she was quite honest to herself, even Hagrid was much sweeter and courteous than Davies could ever hope to be…

But then again it was her opinion now and Maxime certainly didn’t end up with Hagrid.

Maybe this time if she gave some tips to the gentle half-giant before the ball….

Anyways moving on.

There he came with his obnoxious redheaded friend, looking all sullen, and then it happened.

He looked up and their eyes met.

And he saw...

Somehow, she knew that he saw how reluctant and hesitant she was in this position.

He knew about peer pressure better than anyone else after all.

His green eyes softened and he turned his head away pulling Ron with him.

Now even she felt ashamed, why was she here with someone she didn’t even want to be with?

This was all wrong.

She blasted her allure to the maximum and converted Roger into a drooling mess.

Overwhelmed, he slumped over and started making gurgling noises, completely incoherent.

That was it. She hurried away from that scene, and from the corner of her eye saw that Harry had ditched Ron for a moment just to give her a small sad smile.

She gave him a small nod and hurried inside the Beauxbatons carriage.

* * *

The image distorted and blacked a little and then reformed into the night after the second task.

She was sitting on a small bench beside the Black Lake and the birch tree.

Harry had saved Gabby even though she was not his hostage, even though he hadn’t even known her, and Fleur herself had insulted him at the starting of the tournament.

She had kissed him on his cheeks and couldn’t help but feel that her lips would almost fit perfectly with his and she just had a feeling that… that

He wouldn’t be nearly as disgusting as Roger if she tried just that.

So that was why she had called him here at 2 hours past midnight, to apologize, maybe thank him properly, and maybe, maybe…

Something more?

She smiled at her memory self as she remembered that night, one of the best nights of her life.

There he came wearing those rags that the Dursleys had given him with his invisibility cloak and his wand in his other hand.

He came and sat quietly beside her.

She spoke first, “zank you for coming ‘ere tonight monsieur Potter. I can’t zank you enough for zaving Gabby even after all zose rude things that I said to you and I know zat…” She stopped and took a deep breath and realized that she had been rambling.

“What I mean to say is that I’m sorry.”

"It's alright, I did what any person with feelings would have done," he replied, smiling a bit.

She blushed despite herself and said, “Don’t you want to zay something Monsieur Potte…”

“Harry,” He interrupted.

“ Excusez-moi ?” She asked, startled.

“All my friends call me Harry.”

“Then ‘Arry, you can call me Fleur.”

Real Fleur saw Harry’s spine shiver when Memory-Fleur said ‘Arry and she chuckled lightly to herself. She might not have noticed it at first but Harry was always turned on whenever she said his name with her accent.

“Zo don’t you want to say anything ‘Arry?”

“I think Fleur that your thoughts right now are like stars that you can’t seem to align into constellations.”

She tilted her head a little at the cryptic sentence and smiled a little.

“I am really sorry that you ‘ad to zee me in zat situation but I guess you ‘ave to ‘ave a little pain to know a little joy.”

Harry shook his head a little and laughed, “‘Without pain, how could we know joy?' This is an old argument in the field of thinking about suffering and its stupidity and lack of sophistication could be plumbed for centuries but suffice it to say that the existence of broccoli does not, in any way, affect the taste of chocolate.”

This time she joined in the laughter at the sheer stupidity that they both were talking about in the middle of the night.

“My, my, ‘Arry, such big words for a leetle boy.” she teased him lightly and once again they chuckled a little together.

“I guess Dumbledore does rub off on you after enough time.”

“Yeah, he does seem a little insane.”

“Are you implying that I sounded insane a few moments ago?” He asked in mocked outrage.

“No, strangely when you say it, it makes perfect sense to me.”

They both had turned towards each other and moved very close to each other, staring into each other’s eyes.

His eyes, his eyes were so green!

“Why are you staring ‘Arry?”

“Because you are beautiful. I enjoy looking at beautiful people, and I decided a while ago not to deny myself the simpler pleasures of existence”.

They closed in the gap and kissed.

She was right, his lips melded perfectly with hers.

That was the night Harry showed her a new side of himself, a little cryptic, a little insane but most importantly…...

Perfect for her and ….

A much, much better kisser than Roger Davies!

Just as this memory ended, cracks started appearing on the inside of the pensieve.

Magic had detected the flaws in the memories and timeline and it wasn’t pleased, she wasn’t meant to get lost in the past.

If she entered a new timeline then she had to live in the new timeline, not the past.

Now the images were beginning to become a blur, coming and going as fast as she could see.

There she was after the third task, everyone thought that the carriage had set off with every Beauxbatons student in it but Fleur had remained, just so that she could let Harry down slowly.

She had to, he deserved that much.

Why was she leaving him?

Besides the age difference, her father had forbidden her to return to England as her father was many things, a loving man, an honest official. But, he was definitely not a fool.

He heeded Dumbledore’s warning. England was a war, and his family would not be caught up in it.

She entered the hospital wing that night and saw Harry awake and staring at the stars.

He turned as she entered, smiled a sad smile, and winced as a tremor of the Cruciatus passed through his body.

“I am so sorry ‘Arry,” she said in a slightly choked voice as she neared his bed.

“It’s not your fault Fleur, it never was.” replied Harry as he motioned for her to sit.

“No 'Arry I am sorry for leaving you right now, and I don’t know 'ow to say this, but I don’t think we will be able to meet again,” she replied as she looked down. She couldn’t face him while saying this. Yes, she had to let him down slowly, but even that was taking all her emotional strength and resolve.

“I am so sorry Harry. Sorry for leading you on, and for hurting you,” she continued in a shaky voice and looked up expecting to see an angry or a dejected face but instead was faced with a smile.

He was smiling, the same sad smile he gave whenever he saw her making a stupid mistake that she would have to work hard to fix later.

“You don't get to choose if you get hurt in this world… but you do have some say in who hurts you. I always liked my choices Fleur; I always liked my choices”.

She didn’t say anything after that she knew that the single sentence he spoke had a world of meaning behind it.

“Let’s go out for a walk, one last time before you go.”

“What? No ‘Arry. You’re ‘urt! You shouldn’t be able to walk!” She exclaimed and shook her head vehemently and Harry watched in fascination as her silver hair bounced from side to side.

“I am not going to walk Fleur; you can levitate me while you walk.”

After a moment’s disagreement, she reluctantly agreed.

She walked out of the hospital wing silently as Harry floated behind her. While she descended the staircase, she heard the meowing of a cat and cast the disillusionment charm on both of them, Harry shuddered a little but didn’t question the nature of the spell.

They got near their spot, the chair beside the birch tree and the Black Lake.

She helped Harry into a sitting position in her lap before sighing contentedly.

“I am going to miss this.” She said and kept her hands to herself for one full minute before kissing him with all she had.

Oh the irony, but she knew he loved every second of it.

After one full minute of her smothering him in affection and his hands ending up inside her t-shirt along her waistline, she made a cheeky comment.

“Not going to say anything wise or poetic now leetle boy?”

“There doesn’t exist poetry flowery enough to describe your kisses, Fleur,” he said while nibbling her ear gently.

“You’re making this very hard, Harry.”

“What am I making so hard, Fleur?”

“You’re making it very hard to let go,” she whispered before surrendering herself to the ecstasy named Harry Potter.

He proceeded to show her that the only thing little about him was his height.

Then everything became a blur.

* * *

She saw herself arguing, or more accurately begging, with her father to let her go to Britain.

She saw herself running away from home to work at Gringotts.

She saw herself falling for Bill Weasley while working with him and trying to forget about Harry Potter.

She saw Bill proposing to her in front of the whole Diagon Alley and Real-Fleur closed her eyes painfully as Memory-Fleur said yes.

She saw herself carrying breakfast for Harry before the start of his sixth year at Hogwarts and watched him falsely smiling with enthusiasm as she broke the news of the engagement to him.

Now she didn’t even see things, only the voices coming in echoes becoming prominent.

“I’m so sorry, Harry, sorry to have broken your heart,” came Fleur’s sobbing voice.

“Oh, I never minded, Fleur. It was a privilege to have my heart broken by you,” he replied with tears in his eyes as he hugged her for the last time before setting off for Hogwarts.

* * *

“What a slut time is, isn’t she Fleur, she screws everybody,” said Harry as he mourned Dumbledore’s death for the last time.

“Grief doesn’t change you, Harry, it reveals you,” she whispered softly in Harry’s ear as he sobbed into the crook of her neck.

“There will come a time when all of us are dead. All of us. There will come a time when there are no human beings are left to remember that anyone ever existed, or that our species ever did anything of note. There will be no one left to remember Dumbledore or Voldemort, let alone you. Everything that we did and built and wrote and thought and discovered will be forgotten, and all of this will have been for naught. Maybe that time is coming soon and maybe it is millions of years away, but even if we survive the death of our Sun, we will not survive forever. There was time before organisms experienced consciousness, and there will be time after. And if the inevitability of oblivion worries you, I encourage you to ignore it. God knows that’s what everyone else does,” she continued as he slowly fell asleep in her arms.

“I have to end this, Fleur. So many lives will be lost and if mine is what it takes to end this slaughter, then so be it,” Said Harry as he readied himself for the Horcrux hunt.

“Why you, ‘Arry? Why does it always have to be you?”.

“I am no one special Fleur. Besides, as long as I am alive here how could I be truly dead?” He said while pointing towards her heart.

Fleur laughed a little despite the grave situation and said “You are so busy being YOU that you have no idea how utterly unprecedented you are.”

The order entered Hogwarts for the final battle and Fleur pulled Harry aside as soon as she saw him-

“I'm in love with you," she said quietly.

"Fleur, you’re married.” Harry tried.

"I am," she continued as if the interruption never occurred. He was staring at her, and she could see the corners of his eyes crinkling. "I'm in love with you, and I'm not in the business of denying myself the simple pleasure of saying true things. I'm in love with you, and I know that love is just a shout into the void, and that oblivion is inevitable. That we're all doomed. That there will come a day when all our labour has been returned to dust. I know the sun will swallow the only earth we'll ever have, and I am still in love with you.”

But maybe it was far too late, as Harry was a Horcrux.

“I'm a bubbling potion and at some point, I'm going to blow up and I would like to minimize the casualties, okay?” said Harry as a final out for Fleur, to let her escape.

“You do realize that trying to keep your distance from me will not lessen my affection for you. All efforts to save me from you will fail,” she replied, and grabbed his face to kiss the evil soul out of him.

“Oh, damn it all,” mumbled Harry as he deepened their kiss, and so Fleur Delacour claimed Harry Potter.

But at what cost?

Harry Potter became the man who conquered, but her family was dead. Voldemort personally tortured them to death for associating with Harry Potter.

Fleur never told Harry what happened to her parents, but she knew he had probably guessed the truth. She feared that admitting the truth would cause him to spiral, to place the blame on himself for failing the ones he loved. With this quiet agreement, at least he seemed to channel his guilt into a single-minded focus on ending the war.

The newly engaged couple threw themselves into hunting Death Eaters, and left a trail of death and destruction until every last one lay slain.

But, the problems didn’t end there.

They were shamed in Britain for destroying the Weasley family. While Bill understood the decision and granted her a divorce, he never talked to her again.

Ginny, who had pined after Harry for so long, was devastated. She cried day and night with grief for Fred and her break up with Harry only exacerbated her depression.

Ron, after initially refusing to speak with Harry, slowly came back around near Harry’s death when he was taken away from her before his time.

Hermione tried to remain neutral but was clearly a little on Ron’s side, mostly out of necessity.

It was the Triwizard tournament all over again.

George, Molly, and Arthur were too overcome with grief for Fred to say much of anything.

For all of her life with Harry, the next 30 years, she felt loved and enjoyed herself to the fullest.

He was everything that she had imagined him to be-

An amazing father, godfather, son to Andromeda, husband, and lover.

She still remembered the last words he had spoken to her, after they both knew he was going to die. Apparently fate had a little mercy, as the pensieve came back to life one more time to show her last moments with Harry.

He was on his deathbed, and even as his life was ebbing away he looked every bit the ravishing and handsome man with which she had fallen in love.

Teddy and Victoire Lupin were standing there beside her. Dominique had a breakdown before leaving the house this morning, and James had never left his father’s side since the news of his illness broke

She settled right beside Harry and held his hand delicately as he looked at her, this time with a bright smile as if he was staring into the Mirror of Erised and saw nothing but his reflection and happiness.

“I love you very much ‘Arry, probably more than anybody could ever love another person,” she said quietly and tried to hold her tears back as Victoire cried openly on Teddy’s shoulder.

Teddy just smiled sadly at Harry; he had known this was coming perhaps before anyone else.

“You will never age for me Fleur, nor fade, nor die.” Said Harry as he wrapped his arms around Fleur and pulled her upon himself.

She didn’t resist knowing it was futile and maybe she didn’t want to resist now.

She laughed despite the gravity of the situation and said “Shakespeare, ‘Arry really?”

“Well, I do aim to please…”

“Fleur…” Harry continued.

“Yes ‘Arry”

“Do you remember what I told you during our wedding Fleur?”

She nodded as she reminisced a little with a dreamy smile on her face and said in a perfect loving imitation of Harry ”When you realize that you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.”

“And then you said ‘I think I’d miss you even if we’d never met,’” continued Harry as he lightly kissed away her tears which were starting to form.

“Oui.”

“I am so sorry Fleur. Maybe I was foolish in doing this, but I had to, I had to.”

“shh ‘Arry do you remember what you told me during the wedding?”

Harry smiled sheepishly as he remembered the moment she was talking about.

He had asked Fleur if she loved him or not as she was in the middle of apologizing for the hundredth time for breaking his heart the night after the third task.

Then he had said that-

“Love means never having to say you’re sorry Fleur, and please promise me, Fleur, you wouldn’t say sorry to me ever again.”

Fleur smiled a little as he said that and replied “I promise”.

But now she felt it, his heartbeat lowering, his breath becoming ragged and his arms loosening around her waist.

“I am going Fleur, please take care of yourself, Dominique and James.”

“Take care of your mother James, make sure you don’t trouble her too much.”

They both nodded shakily as his head turned towards Teddy.

“Please take care of my princess Teddy, and if she ever gets angry or out of hand, just bribe her with some chocolate. It always worked for me.” Said Harry and winked at him as they both crashed into him for one the last hug.

They parted and Fleur gently took Harry’s face in her hand and said-

“I will return.

I will find you.

Love you,

Marry you,

And Live, this time

Without Shame.”

“Victoire” he called in a soft voice.

“Oui papa?”

“You are my eldest daughter, right?”

“Oui papa.”

“Please do me one last favor, princess.”

“What Papa?”

“Please tell your mother every day after I am gone that I don’t regret one moment of the life I’ve spent with her. Tell her that father was so proud of you that the shame seemed so fickle in front of it, and tell her that, that if he had to do it all once again…

He would do it without batting because all the moments I spent with her were the greatest moments of my life, and I am thankful that she came into my life and blessed me with all 3 of my beautiful children.”

She nodded while sobbing in Teddy’s t-shirt, not able to form more words.

He smiled satisfied and pulled his wife closer. “Mrs. Potter, kiss me and release me to the heavens above please.”

“I…. I can’t ‘Arry”

“Please Fleur, one last wish of this little boy,” he said and green met blue.

She kissed him with everything she had, one last time.

The real Fleur had started sobbing long ago, and was thrown out of the pensieve as it exploded into pieces, tears streaming down her cheeks as she slumped to her knees in the deserted Great Hall.

.

She had to get her Harry back. 

She had to set things straight.

That was the moment that she discovered one of the greatest secrets of life.

The greatest thing you will ever learn is just to love…

And be loved in return.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Tell me whether u guys liked it or not.  
> would love comments on this!


End file.
